Roasted Red Pepper Dip

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Roasted Red Pepper Dip on OvertimeCook

Roasted Red Pepper Dip is easy to make, is healthy and the perfect party dip! Raise your hand if you love dips. Shabbat challah and dips go together like...peanut butter and jelly? My personal favorite has always been hummus. I like the dips full of mayo too, like creamy basil dip or creamy eggplant dip. But then I went on my diet, and couldn't quite indulge in endless amounts of hummus or mayo based dips. (Who should, really? So calorie dense!) So I started making my mom's old classic - roasted red pepper dip! Here's the thing though. I grew up enjoying it, not as a healthy dip, but just as one that my siblings and I enjoyed. It wasn't until I was an adult on a diet that I realized … [Read more...]

Sweet and Spicy Maple Roasted Pecans

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sweet and spicy maple roasted pecans on OvertimeCook.jpg

These Sweet and Spicy Maple Roasted Pecans have just the right blend of flavors to keep you coming back for more! Can we talk about addictive foods? Some foods, like chocolate, are always high up there on my "I need that" list. Ice cream is on that list too. Cookies also. But when you think of foods that make it really hard for you to stop after one or two, what do you think of? Many of us think of chips. Potato chips, corn chips...mmm. Definitely don't like to stop after just one of those! But for me, the most addictive - and I mean don't-stop-till-they-are-gone addictive food is nuts. And more specifically, pecans. And even more specifically, these sweet and spicy maple roasted … [Read more...]

Crispy Baked Onion Rings

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Crispy Baked Onion Rings on Overtime Cook

Crispy Baked Onion Rings are healthier than they look. Intrigued? Read on! Remember how last week I was craving onion rings? You might have read about it on facebook, and then later on when I mentioned it in my post. Well those who know me will not be surprised to learn that once I get an idea in my head, it doesn't leave very easily. And so onion rings were right on the top of my mind for a couple of days now. And finally I made them. But let me backtrack for a minute. I recently photographed baked onion rings for a photography job I did. (You didn't know that I do freelance photography? Now you do!) And really, that's when the cravings started. Those were baked, but still, not so … [Read more...]

Herb Roasted Sweet Potatoes

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herb roasted sweet potatoes on overtime cook

If there was ever a time that I was going to post an almost non existent recipe, it's today. I finally wrapped up the first of two Purim features I'm doing for my magazine job, and I'm as closed to burnt out as it gets. It's pretty weird, because the recipes I'm featuring are some of the most creative I've ever done. And then the packaging ideas are another important aspect of the article, and they kinda have to be really creative too. Couple that with doing photo shoots for all of them and basically my creativity (and energy!) tanks are on empty. I'm exhausted. I want to sleep for a week. But no, I've got my second Purim feature due soon (luckily I've got 1 out of those 3 done and … [Read more...]

Purple Potato Latkes

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Tonight was the fifth night of chanukah. Which means that if you are partying hard in true hanukkah fashion, you have had a lot of latkes by now. Are you bored of the typical? I am. I know that the world is full of people making latkes with all kinds of interesting vegetables, spices and sauces. But I decided to go a different direction, because I care more than I should about aesthetics. Which is how this idea was born. Let's make a pretty latke, I thought to myself. So I bought some purple potatoes. I posted a picture on instagram of my latkes frying, and they were totally beautiful: You can't see it clearly, but the purple potatoes and flecks of green courtesy of the scallions really … [Read more...]

Yemenite Beef Soup and a Review and Giveaway of Kosher By Design Cooking Coach

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Giveaway Closed! I've been getting a lot of questions lately about my thoughts on the new cookbook by Susie Fishbein, Kosher By Design Cooking Coach, and I am excited to finally share my thoughts on this fabulous cookbook with you. I should start by mentioning that if you aren't a kosher cook, don't stop reading. Susie's ideas are amazing, and you don't have to keep kosher to appreciate them! At a first glance: As is the case with all of Susie's previous books, this is a visually beautiful book. I opened it up and marveled at the absolute wealth of information. The book promises to be more than just a list of recipes, and it certainly delivered. Each chapter starts with a "game plan" … [Read more...]

Pesto Potato Pinwheels

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Pesto Potato Pinwheels on OvertimeCook

Let me preface this post by telling you that I'm typing it up on my (barely functional and very old) iPhone 4 (because my iPhone 5 isn't expected for another two weeks- boo!) on the bus, headed home from work. And by "work" I don't mean my usual "very tame" 9 hour work day. I mean an Advil-sustained, coffee and diet-coke guzzling absolutely intense ten and a half hour work-athon. Yeah. Cause that's what happens when your company closes ten days straight in celebration of a holiday. Not fun. Wait. I should clarify. Vacation is fun. Coming back isn't. Wait, was that obvious? Also, I'm probably not coherent. Consider yourselves warned. Oh, and I'm not finished complaining about my work day. … [Read more...]

Quinoa Cakes and a review of Herbivoracious

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When I was given the opportunity to review Herbivoracious, by Michael Natkin, I knew it would be perfect for the nine days. Remember how I said I can't eat meat all week? Well what better time to review a vegetarian cookbook? None, I say. I loved these quinoa cakes, and enjoyed this cookbook! At first glance: There is such a wide variety of recipes in here, you wouldn't imagine that this book is vegetarian. The pictures are beautiful and eye-catching, and best of all, inviting. Some features I liked: You would think that there wouldn't be a wide variety of sections in a vegetarian cookbook (no meat, poultry and fish sections) but the cookbook was very cleverly organized. Main course … [Read more...]

Basil Potato Salad

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Are you sick of hearing about Passover/Pesach yet? Well bad news folks, Passover is not for another week, so y0u've got another two weeks of hearing about my Passover cooking. On the other hand, if you think it's bad, imagine what kind of separation anxiety I am feeling for my best friend, er, I mean my Kitchen Aid. I've been searching the web for interesting Passover recipe ideas, and I definitely am not coming up short. There's a plethora of recipes out there, each one out-doing the next in terms of creativity and non-passover-like qualities. But I think the best Passover recipes are the simple things, the ones you can make by default, because they happen not to contain any grains. (Such … [Read more...]

Sweet and Salty Roasted Pecans

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Today on my blog I will introduce you to a different side of my cooking. This isn't my usual decadent and totally fattening dessert who's description, however vivid, is written solely based on the reviews and word of others. Nor is this a healthful recipe that I eat when trying to lose weight. No, this is my guilty little pleasure. My latest addiction, in the interest of full honesty. You may have noticed based on the number of peanut butter based treats on this blog that I adore the combination of sweet and salty. True, those treats are made so I can live vicariously (or simply fatteningly) through others, but still, I make what I want to eat. Not these. I made a batch of these and … [Read more...]